Mr. Billionaire, I'm Back!

Chapter 41: Jealousy Makes People Ugly

Sarah had just finished Googling her name, and she held up her cell phone so that her mother could see the top result. Susan read the headline out loud: "The Truth About Why Sarah Likes To Hurt People."

Susan clicked on the link and read the article. She took note of how many times it had been Liked and Shared and read a few of the comments. "This isn't good," she said. "Some of the people who've commented are celebrities..."

Along with the article, there was a second video. In this video, Sarah was filming a scene that required her to beat her co-stars, Julie and Austen. The scene was just a part of the movie, but because Sarah was such a good actress, many people thought it was real. That being said, a lot of people understood that this was just a clip from a movie.

Sarah took her phone back from her mother, and she launched her Twitter App so that she could make a statement. She said, "To everyone who has seen the video of me abusing my co-stars, you need to understand that this is just a clip from a movie. In person, I am nothing like the character I am playing in my next film."

Almost immediately, Sarah's post went viral, and she began to regain the support of her fans. Not only that, but she began to pick up new fans, and her following almost doubled in a matter of minutes.

A half an hour passed, and Joanna received a private message from an anonymous follower. It said, "I know who was behind the first video. It was from Joanna Devine."

Armed with this new knowledge, Sarah took to Twitter again. In a second post, she reiterated her explanation regarding the videos, and then she wrote, "And now I know who was responsible for starting these ugly rumors. It was Joanna Devine, my Stepsister. She went to all this trouble to slander my good name. And why? You might ask. It's because she's always been jealous of me, and jealousy makes people ugly."

Almost immediately, the tide turned. Now, instead of saying nasty things about Sarah, everybody was saying nasty things about Joanna. They were saying that she was ugly, immoral, shameless, evil, and a b***h.

***

In the vice general manager's office at Devine HQ - Joanna checked the comments under Sarah's Twitter post, and she sneered when she saw what people were writing about her. Not knowing what else to do, she called Robin, but before she could say a word, he began to yell at her. "Joanna!" he shouted. "You haven't changed a bit, have you? Sarah is your sister! Why would you set her up like that?!?!?"

"Don't give me that," Joanna scoffed. "You know how things actually are, so cut the crap. We both know that Sarah isn't the goodie-two-shoes she's making herself out to be. That girl if pure evil, vile, and disingenuous!"

"That's nonsense!" Robin exclaimed. "Take responsibility for what you did for once in your life. Do you know that your sister had to sleep outside last night because of what you did? If anything happened to her, would you have felt guilty?"

Joanna: "After what she's put me through? No. I wouldn't feel guilty. I would be happy!"

"You--" Robin was nearly breathless. "You were always a rebellious girl. Why are you so vicious?"

"Oh, f**k off!" Joanna laughed and said, "I don't know why I even bothered. I thought that, for once, you would take my side. Boy, was I stupid!" And then she hung up the phone.

***

In Devine's Villa - Sarah was grinning from ear to ear. Everything had seemed hopeless when she'd woken up, but by noon she had successfully diverted all of the hate that had been coming her way and sent it straight to Joanna. There was one thing, though, that was niggling at the back of her mind. Despite the anonymous tip, she didn't think Joanna had posted the video, and she wondered if the person who'd actually done it would step forward and take responsibility. This worried her because, if that happened, it would take some of the blame off Joanna, and it could land right back on her. She thought - I need to get ahead of this. But how?

Sarah turned to Susan and said, "Mom, did you and Dad find the guy who posted the video, yet?"

Susan shook her head and said, "No, but we're still trying. Try not to worry about it. I'm sure everything will turn out fine in the end."

Susan was trying to be optimistic for Sarah's sake, offering her what comfort she could, and keeping her under control. Above all, she needed her daughter to stay calm because whenever Sarah lost her temper, she went off the deep end, as could be seen in the video. And the last thing they needed was another incident involving Sarah acting up in public. That being said, Susan was still heavily invested in identifying and locating the person who had initially posted the video.

Until now, Susan had not told Sarah about the night when Joanna beat her. Nor had she told her about her suspicion that Joanna was secretly plotting to bring the whole family down. She kept this information to herself because she knew that if she told Sarah, Sarah would confront Joanna. Then, Joanna would have more evidence to use against them, and her problem would be harder to solve. And they would not be as successful as they were now.

Luckily, Sarah did not know what was in Susan's mind, and she was too busy reveling in the negative press that Joanna was receiving to pay much attention to anything else.

Sarah smiled and turned her phone around so that her mother could read her latest Twitter post. It said, "To all my fans: Thank you very much for your support as I seek justice. I am very grateful for each and every one of you. I have bad news, though. I am no longer convinced that my Stepsister, Joanna Devine, was the one that set me up. Or, if she was behind it, I do not believe that she acted alone."